CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 46 of 120

Correct — D, Neither 1 nor 2. Both statements invert the real classification. The Committee on Estimates is not ad hoc at all — it is one of the three financial standing committees, alongside the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings. It has thirty members, all elected every year by the Lok Sabha from among its own members, which makes it the largest parliamentary committee; no minister may be elected to it. The Railway Convention Committee, conversely, is not a standing committee. It is classed as an ad hoc committee, constituted for the duration of a Lok Sabha to work out the rate of dividend the railways pay to general revenues and report on that question. So statement 1 calls a standing committee ad hoc and statement 2 calls an ad hoc committee standing.

• (a)1 only — Accepts statement 1. But the Committee on Estimates is a permanent financial committee reconstituted annually, not a body created for a single task and dissolved when the task ends.
• (b)2 only — Accepts statement 2. The Railway Convention Committee is listed among the ad hoc committees, with a tenure tied to the life of a Lok Sabha, and does not appear in any of the standing categories.
• (c)Both 1 and 2 — Accepts both, when each statement has the classification exactly the wrong way round. A candidate who has learnt only that both bodies exist, without the standing and ad hoc split, is the one this option is written for.

Parliamentary committees fall into two families. Standing committees are permanent, reconstituted at regular intervals and continuous in their work; they comprise three financial committees (Public Accounts, Estimates, Public Undertakings), twenty-four department-related standing committees covering all Union ministries, and a further set including the Business Advisory Committee, the Committee of Privileges, the Rules Committee and the Library Committee. Ad hoc committees are raised as a need arises and dissolve once they report — select and joint committees on particular Bills, inquiry committees, and advisory bodies such as the Railway Convention Committee.

Both-false is an uncomfortable answer to commit to, and papers use that discomfort. The way to be sure is to hold one clean fact about each body. For the Estimates Committee it is the membership: thirty, all from the Lok Sabha, elected annually — a body that is elected every year is by construction permanent, not ad hoc. For the Railway Convention Committee it is the purpose: it exists to settle the dividend payable by the railways to general revenues, a recurring but self-contained negotiation, and it is constituted afresh for each Lok Sabha rather than running continuously. Note also the contrast within the financial trio: the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings have twenty-two members each and draw from both Houses, while the Estimates Committee is Lok Sabha only.

• The Committee on Estimates is a standing financial committee with thirty members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha.
• It is the largest parliamentary committee; the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings have twenty-two members each and include Rajya Sabha members.
• The Railway Convention Committee is classed as an ad hoc committee, with a tenure running for the duration of one Lok Sabha.
• Standing committees include three financial committees, twenty-four department-related standing committees and a further group such as Business Advisory, Privileges, Rules and Library.
• Ad hoc committees include select and joint committees on Bills, inquiry committees and advisory committees.

• Assuming every committee named after a specific subject must be ad hoc.
• Forgetting that the Estimates Committee excludes the Rajya Sabha while the other two financial committees do not.
• Rejecting a neither option because both statements sound authoritative.

As a statements item on committee classification, as a which-is-largest question, or through the membership numbers of the financial committees.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is the largest committee of the Indian Parliament?

  • (a)The Public Accounts Committee
  • (b)The Committee on Estimates
  • (c)The Committee on Public Undertakings
  • (d)The Committee on Petitions

  Answer(b) The Committee on Estimates — thirty members, against twenty-two each for the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Members of which one of the following committees are drawn exclusively from the Lok Sabha?

  • (a)Public Accounts Committee
  • (b)Committee on Public Undertakings
  • (c)Committee on Estimates
  • (d)Committee on Government Assurances

  Answer(c) Committee on Estimates — all thirty of its members are elected by the Lok Sabha from among its own members, while the other two financial committees include Rajya Sabha members.